City to review snow-clearing complaints, look at improvements

Hey there, time traveller!This article was published 15/11/2012 (1484 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

City of Winnipeg officials plan to review what worked and what didn't as crews finish clearing residential streets from last weekend's storm.

Winnipeg's street maintenance manager Ken Boyd said only a few pockets of local streets in the city still need to be plowed, and crews wrapped up the work today. Boyd said the rollout of the Know Your Zone campaign was a success, despite the fact the city was walloped by a winter storm the week before the city was to launch a public awareness campaign.

BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS

Winnipeg was was walloped by a winter storm a week before the city was to roll out a public awareness campaign on snow clearing zones. Purchase Photo Print

A total of 1,850 vehicles were towed. Boyd said officials will now review what minor improvements could be made to the snow zones before the next residential plow.

Boyd said he's heard of complaints from business owners who say they've lost customers due to the 12-hour parking bans. However, he said no major changes to the zones will be made this winter.

"We're going to be sitting down to see what went well and what we need to tweak before the next time we plow," he said this afternoon.

On average, Boyd said the city plows residential streets twice a year. Last year, when the city spent $200,000 to launch Know Your Zone there was not enough snow to warrant plowing during the winter.

Boyd said the City of Winnipeg planned to re-launch a smaller, $70,000 ad campaign for the snow zone program in mid-November.

Unfortunately, he said close to 25 centimetres of snow fell before it launched.

"It's a balancing act. We were trying to determine the best time to roll it out," Boyd said. "If you roll it out too early people grasp onto it and maybe forget it."

You can comment on most stories on winnipegfreepress.com. You can also agree or disagree with other comments.
All you need to do is be a Winnipeg Free Press print or e-edition subscriber to join the conversation and give your feedback.